The Oak Tree Promise
by Jennison Silverye
Summary: He never thought the day would come; the day he would feel for a girl, only to have her leave. He didn't want that to happen, he wanted to be by her side, teaching her the ways of the Pokemon world. "Stay," he said, "I'll teach you how to battle." But her mind was already made up, "I'm sorry Gary, I promise I'll be back." Slight AU, mainly oldrival, slight poke, contest, & ikari.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, or Leaf would have been in the Anime and pairings would be canon.**

**AN: This story features Gary and Leaf when they were younger, and after they've grown up. To clarify, while in the Anime, Ash and Gary were neighbours all the while, in this story, Gary and Leaf were neighbours first, and Ash moves into Pallet Town later. This is my first Pokemon fanfic, so thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy it(: All reviews are much appreciated(:**

**Prologue**

When Gary first learnt that his new neighbour next door was going to be a girl, he scorned.

Growing up under the care of his older sister, Daisy, and his grandfather, the famous Professor Oak – or 'Gramps' as he called him, had given him one of the most stifling childhood despite its perks. There had been no one to play battle against, no one to go on adventures with, and even at the young age, he had been forced to learn as much as he could about Pokemon, robbing him of the fun he would have had learning about it like everyone else.

While it did make him the top student in his school and the envy of everyone else's eyes, Gary failed to enjoy it. What he truly wanted was a playmate. Someone he could finally let his hair down around, someone who could make him forget who was: the grandson of Professor Oak, a potential future Pokemon researcher. And in his opinion, that didn't come in the form of a girl.

Sure, she might have been his age, but it didn't quite matter. From what he had seen at home, girls had no interest in battling, or getting muddy and dirty trying to catch a wild Pokemon. All they dabbled in was boring Pokemon dramas and cooking, neither of which were in his to-do wish list and he didn't need that.

He needed another boy like him, eager to learn about Pokemon hands on, and eager to explore the rest of Kanto beyond tiny Pallet Town.

It was perhaps for that reason that he never bothered to see who the girl was the day she moved in and instead, locked himself in with his pile of homework. He would get to know her soon enough anyway. Daisy had mentioned that she was also enrolled in his school.

_Bleh, _as though he wanted to see her.

'_Girls have cooties,'_ he recalled saying. _'And they're boring. They don't like anything that doesn't glitter or have cute stuff.' _

It was true; the girls in his class had a limited attention span. The moment their eyes caught on to something sparkly, it was as though all sense of studiousness flew out of the window. Anything that everyone in class heard for the next few moments would be about that sparkly thing, and it drove Gary nuts having lessons being interrupted by such silly things.

Daisy hadn't shared his amusement though. _'Just be nice to her. Leaf's not like others. It won't be the same.' _

_Lies. _

Gary didn't take her words seriously. He didn't see the point especially since his sister was always trying to get him to be more accepting and less cynical. Long used to it, he was certain that it was going to be the same this time. Going to school and ending up telling her when he got home that the new girl, or Leaf, squealed at the shiny butterfree magnet Mrs. Linch placed on the whiteboard.

In fact, he was so convinced that his deductions were correct, that not once did it strike him that perhaps his sister may not have said that because she wanted him to be nice to his neighbour. That maybe she had said it because Leaf truly was special.

He never considered the possibility, right up till the moment he got to class.

For when his eyes finally laid upon her, and his ears registered what Mrs. Linch was saying, Gary realised how wrong he had been the whole time. Leaf wasn't like everybody else, Leaf was indeed different.

He felt a short pang of guilt...

_Leaf was blind._


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Pokemon:( **

**AN: Would just like to say a huge thank you to all those reading this story and that all reviews and constructive comments are greatly appreciated(: ****And to all those following it, here's an update. I hope you'll like it!**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

The only thing that everyone could talk about that day was Leaf. Right from when she had been introduced, till even after she had sat down in the back row next to some boy named Jack and the class had been told to quieten down. The muffled chatter was incessant, and for some reason Gary couldn't fathom, he hated it more than when his class was interrupted by high pitched squeals.

It didn't mean that he wasn't intrigued by her. She was his neighbour, his classmate, and the first blind person he had ever known. Each time her name was mentioned amidst the gossiping going on behind him, he found himself subconsciously turning towards the back. To an extent, Gary was slightly curious.

The thing that got to him though was the way they treated her, the way they scrutinised her as if she was some legendary Pokemon, only, it wasn't with awe, but with leer and fear. It got to him like a beedrill's sting and he wished he could do something about it. _Blindness wasn't contagious for Arceus' sake. _

And yet admittedly, he didn't know what to feel about her either. Looking at her always gave rise to two kinds of emotions; sympathy for the plight she was in, and guilt for his earlier assumptions. It made him sick and unable to focus on what was being taught, and he could both see and hear. Gary didn't know how Leaf even managed. Life certainly wasn't easy for her.

_Gah, _he should stop thinking about that.

Now that he knew that his new neighbour was blind, it was harder for him to resent her for taking away his chance of having a male neighbour. However, the facts still remained the same. So what if she was different? A blind girl was handicapped. She didn't have the means to do anything he wanted to do.

He should just take it that he never had this neighbour in the first place. Go on with life as it always had been, with just him, his knowledge and Pokemon, against the world.

Gary gritted his teeth and turned his attention to Mrs. Linch. He shouldn't think about her, he wouldn't think about her, and for a while, his determination pulled through.

"_Butterfree, the evolution of metapod, has wings covered with poisonous powders..." _

The auburn spiky haired teen furiously scribbled down the lesson notes into his jotter book, and to his delight, the rest of the lesson went on without him getting distracted by random mentions of 'Leaf'. Even the guilt had been suppressed, retreating to the back of his mind where his consciousness didn't touch. The morning went by somewhat more peacefully.

Then break time came.

"Gary, did you bring any of Professor Oak's Pokemon to school today?"

"Gary, what's the world's largest Pokemon?"

"Gary! Tell me more about eevee's evolutions!"

Gary grunted as his classmates gathered around his desk, firing him with questions. The spotlight had turned from Leaf back to him, and like most other days, he felt hounded.

He should have known that it was coming. He should have known that they wouldn't leave him alone. After all, it had always been this way regardless of what happened in school. Nothing, not even a blind girl would have made them forget about it.

He hadn't always minded it though. In fact, when school had just started, he had enjoyed the popularity. Everyone gave in to him and everyone wanted to be near him. He was never alone, a fear which he bore before attending school. It made him feel good.

Then he grew older and the cynicism kicked in. He began to realise that the reason why everyone treated him that way, wasn't because he was him. Gary Oak, a budding trainer, waiting to graduate from Pallet Town Grade School. They did it because he was an Oak. Grandson to Kanto's most famous professor, and one of the greatest trainers of all times. In a sense, he was no different from Leaf, a rare specimen to them – just blessed with the good attention.

Maybe that was why he couldn't take it.

Struck with that realisation, Gary found his mood for entertaining his classmates sapped further. Unwilling to put up with the din around him, he grabbed his backpack and shoved his way past the throng of people. He didn't care if he was offending them. No one truly cared about him anyway; he didn't see why he should do the same.

It was times like this that he really wished he had a playmate, someone who wouldn't see him for his Gramps' achievements, but for himself. Having people tossing themselves at him just because his family member was famous wasn't just grating, it made him feel like he wasn't good enough to be recognised for his own merits. Whatever he did, he would always be overshadowed, stuck with the title that wasn't his name. He-

"You can stop stomping around now."

Gary looked up from the ground, taken aback by the soft foreign voice that had interrupted his thoughts.

"You've been going around this place for a while. The others stopped following you a few minutes ago," the person explained.

Gary blinked, realising that it was true. He had been wandering aimlessly around the school's backyard after he had walked out of the door and the ruckus had stopped following him.

Wanting to know who he was listening to, his vision searched for the source of the voice, only to land on a petite long hair brunette sitting on a ledge. There was a white cane by her side.

_Leaf. _

"How could you tell all that?" Surprised tinged his voice. _You're blind, _he almost said, but he caught himself in time.

Leaf smiled, almost as if she'd read into that. "When you can't see anything, your other senses get more sensitive to the things happening around you. I figured all that out from your stomping and their yelling."

Ahh... right, enhanced senses. He cursed himself for not figuring that out sooner.

"Well, I knew that," he said embarrassed. "I just... I just wanted to see if I was right."

That was when the giggling and snorting started as Leaf burst out laughing. Gary tried to fume in protest, but strangely, he found no such anger towards her. From anyone else, the laugh would have seemed insulting and he would have ignored the person for the rest of the day; but from her it was welcomed. It was as if he was just another normal boy to her and she didn't feel the need to hold herself back.

He felt comfortable that way, having her laugh at him – a word he hadn't thought of in a long while. A word he certainly hadn't expected to think of when he was around her.

"Stop laughing," he said lamely instead as he walked to join her by the ledge. "You don't know who I am. I know everything."

He had yet to introduce himself, and there was the possibility that once he did, she would start behaving the same way others did around him. Gary found himself taking the chance nonetheless. Perhaps there was a tiny part of him that wanted to show off, and a tiny part that wanted to see how she would be. Leaf so far hadn't been what he had expected.

She heard him coming, and shifted herself to make space for him. Gary brushed off the dirt on the ledge and sat down beside her.

"Of course I do," she said once he had sat down. "You're Gary Oak, and you're my neighbour."

"And you still dare to laugh at me?"

"But it was funny! Your voice went all weird, and it sounded like you were stuttering!"

Pursing her lips, she then added, "You would have laughed too if I had done that."

This time, it was his turn to laugh. "Take that back! My voice wasn't weird!"

"It was!"

"Well you're dreaming!"

"I'm pretty sure that if I was dreaming, I wouldn't have dreamt of a cocky person like you."

"I'm not cocky!"

Their bantering continued as she tried to insult him with what she knew or noted about him in class: he was a know-it-all, a Mr. Popular, a teacher's pet that somehow everybody loves; and in return, he called her delusional, a dreamer, and a silly girl who couldn't differentiate godly talent from a know-it-all. They both knew where to draw the line though, she didn't mention his grandfather, and he didn't drag in her blindness into it.

By the time Mrs. Linch called them back, they were both laughing so hard that he was sprawled on his side, and she was on the verge of falling of the ledge. He hadn't had much fun in a while and he suspected that the feeling was mutual for her. Reluctantly, they both got up to get ready for class and she grabbed her white cane.

"Thanks to you, I never got to eat my lunch," he told Leaf.

She bit her lip. "I would say I'm sorry, but I didn't get to eat lunch either... You're not that hungry I hope?"

Gary was about to shake his head, when he remembered that she couldn't see the gesture and instead, replied. "Nah... I had fun."

"Me too."

A period of silence went by as both headed towards the door. Not liking how awkward that made it, he asked a few seconds later.

"See'ya later?"

He didn't know how she was getting home, but he hoped that she wouldn't object to hanging out once they reached home. He didn't mind that she couldn't see now, and therefore wasn't able to do half the stuff he wanted to do. He just liked being around her, having someone that he could talk to without feeling that they were superficial.

Leaf replied with a tease, "I wouldn't exactly said see'ya later, since I can't really see you, but perhaps smell'ya later. You smell so much of cologne I could smell you a mile away."

Gary didn't use cologne, and didn't know why she thought he did but he accepted it.

"Maybe I'll smell'ya later too then," he said, deciding that he liked her phrase better. "You have this... leafy smell about you."

"That's why I'm named Leaf genius," she remarked lightly and they laughed again before parting for their seats.

It was then that Gary noted that for the second time in the day, his spirits was lifting. This time around though, it wasn't because he had finally pushed Leaf out of his mind. It was because he had finally found a friend.


End file.
